Two people sit on a bench near a lake at night, surrounded by colorful light effects. They face each other and raise their hands, seemingly high-fiving. The background features dark water and a glowing city skyline.

Exploring Unscripted Twillingate

By Newfoundland & Labrador

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Photos by Tom Cochrane 
 When you consider Twillingate, there’s a really good chance that you already have a picture in your mind: small picturesque community, some rolling hills, the waves lapping at the shore, cliffs, and lighthouses, and icebergs in the summer. You’re not wrong with that description, but there’s also a digital arts festival in late September that brings a sense of unscripted adventure to this special corner of central Newfoundland.

Two people sit on a bench near a lake at night, surrounded by colorful light effects. They face each other and raise their hands, seemingly high-fiving. The background features dark water and a glowing city skyline.
Four musicians perform on a warmly lit wooden stage adorned with Canadian flags. They are playing guitars and singing into microphones, surrounded by string lights that create a cozy atmosphere.

Unscripted Twillingate, a digital arts festival (the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada) brings together bloggers and artists, photographers and writers, from across Newfoundland and Labrador for a week to talk about and explore creating in a digital world. Workshops and sessions have been led by the likes of adventurer T.A. Loeffler, artist Tara Jane Feener, photographer Dennis Minty, and blogger Mariellen Ward to look at how we create, publish, and talk about ourselves and our worlds online.

Two people stand on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. The sky is bright and partly cloudy. The sea stretches out under a clear blue sky, with waves visible below the cliff. They appear to be enjoying the scenic view.
A scenic coastal landscape featuring several stacked fishing traps, bright blue containers, and a grassy hillside in the background under a cloudy sky. The ocean is a deep blue, enhancing the vibrant colors of the scene.

Workshops can lead you on hikes around beaches and in root cellars. Or into a recording studio to witness the digital music recording process (Dean Stairs is a musical mastermind). Bring a group of budding filmmakers together to create a short film (led by the genius of Roger Maunder). There’s even an incredibly delicious feast cooked using only ingredients found in and around the Twillingate area, cooked up by local chefs.

A scenic view of a rocky coastline with large jagged rock formations extending into the sea. The sky is bright with scattered fluffy clouds, and the sun casts a warm light on the rocks and water.

The real magic, though, of this digital arts festival are the moments that aren’t planned for at all – indeed, as the name says, the unscripted moments of Unscripted are the true gems that you’ll hang on to. Like when a boat tour operator takes you on a totally unplanned tour around Twillingate (pro tip: a great way to make an awesome new friend is to go on a spur of the moment boat tour with someone you just met). Or, after dinner, spending an hour playing with light painting (using long exposure photography and small lights to “draw” in a photo). Or wandering around Old House Cove in the sun, snow, hail, and rain (Newfoundland weather is beautifully unpredictable) on an impromptu photo walk. All of this, plus the usual Twillingate incredibleness of the Crow Head Lighthouse, the Anchor Inn, Crow’s Nest Cafe, the wine tasting at Auk Island Winery, and of course, the really, really incredibly kind and warm people.

Rocky shoreline with scattered seaweed and small houses in the distance under a partly cloudy sky. The landscape is open and coastal, suggesting a rural or remote setting by the sea.
Sunset over the ocean, with a silhouette of rocky cliffs in the foreground. The sky is a gradient of blue to orange with scattered clouds, and the water reflects the colors of the sunset.

Twillingate is gorgeous at any time of year – go for the landscape, the ocean, and the steep cliffs that seem to erupt out of nowhere, the icebergs, and the wonderful people. But if you’re feeling a little adventurous, and if you’re a digital creator (and let’s face it, these days all of us are digital creators) you owe it to yourself to go to Unscripted Twillingate next September.

A scenic view of a rocky coastline with a vast blue ocean under a sunny, partly cloudy sky. In the distance, there are small islands and a shoreline dotted with buildings.
A person wearing brown boots is sitting on a rocky cliff, overlooking a vast ocean and distant islands under a partly cloudy sky. The scene conveys a sense of relaxation and freedom.
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A white house with a green roof sits on a rocky coastline, surrounded by green grass. In the background, the ocean stretches towards rugged hills under a clear sky.
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Two people sit on a bench near a lake at night, surrounded by colorful light effects. They face each other and raise their hands, seemingly high-fiving. The background features dark water and a glowing city skyline.

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